{"id":343444,"date":"2026-07-17T14:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/343444\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T14:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:18:10","slug":"floridas-midsummer-report-card-widespread-heat-uneven-rainfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/343444\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida’s midsummer report card: Widespread heat, uneven rainfall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meteorological summer is now halfway over across North America, providing a snapshot of how the warm season<\/a> has unfolded.<\/p>\n

So far, Florida has largely experienced widespread warmth and an inconsistent pattern of rainfall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bradenton, along the state\u2019s west coast, has been the warmest locale, with a mean temperature of 86.1 degrees. If the season were to end today, it would be Bradenton\u2019s warmest summer on record.<\/p>\n

Several other Florida cities have also been experiencing an exceptionally warm summer.<\/p>\n

Clermont, Lakeland, Ocala, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami are all currently on pace to rank among their five warmest meteorological summers on record.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Historically, the final week of July<\/a> is the warmest stretch of the year across much of the state, when the average low temperature is around 73 degrees and the average afternoon high is around 92 degrees.<\/p>\n

Coastal communities often remain a few degrees cooler thanks to the cooling effect of nearby water, although the added humidity can push heat index values well into the triple digits.<\/p>\n

So far, there are no notable cool spots across the state, though much of the Florida Panhandle has seen temperatures near average.<\/p>\n

The persistent heat has prompted National Weather Service meteorologists to issue numerous heat advisories, but no Florida forecast office is currently on pace to break its all-time record for the number of heat advisories issued in a single year.<\/p>\n

\"AmountAmount of Heat Advisories issued per each National Weather Service office in 2026.<\/p>\n

The status of the El Ni\u00f1o-Southern Oscillation, or what is commonly referred to as the ENSO, can play a major role in weather patterns.<\/p>\n

Currently, the world is experiencing an El Ni\u00f1o pattern, with warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures across the equatorial Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

While many areas are experiencing a warm summer, there has also been a lack of consistent rainfall, another telltale sign of an El Ni\u00f1o that is underway.<\/p>\n

The Tampa region has experienced one of the driest starts to meteorological summer on record. Some areas have seen just over 3 inches of rainfall since June 1, which is nearly 8 inches below normal.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a short drive east along Interstate 4 reveals the opposite trend in Orlando and along the nearby Space Coast.<\/p>\n

According to observational data, Orlando is experiencing its fifth-wettest meteorological summer on record, while Melbourne has received more than 10 inches of rainfall since the beginning of June, making it one of its wettest starts to meteorological summer.<\/p>\n

Farther south, portions of Southeast Florida continue to struggle to receive significant rainfall.<\/p>\n

Many communities around Miami are between 4 and 10 inches below normal despite the on-time arrival of the wet season.<\/p>\n

The uneven rainfall totals have been largely driven by the scattered nature of afternoon thunderstorms.<\/p>\n

\"PrecipitationPrecipitation departure map across the Southeast.<\/p>\n

Unlike some previous summers, tropical systems have not played a significant role in Florida\u2019s rainfall totals.<\/p>\n

The Atlantic hurricane season has remained mostly quiet through the first half of meteorological summer, with no tropical cyclones directly affecting the state.<\/p>\n

Typically, by the middle of July, the Atlantic has produced about two named storms and while a direct hit from a tropical cyclone is uncommon early in the season, even a nearby tropical disturbance can significantly increase rainfall.<\/p>\n

With roughly six weeks remaining in meteorological summer, the climatological hottest and rainiest portion of the year are still ahead before summer season comes to an end on Aug. 31.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 Storm Center<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meteorological summer is now halfway over across North America, providing a snapshot of how the warm season has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,115,221,12308,12309,12310],"class_list":["post-343444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-news","tag-weather","tag-wuft","tag-wusf","tag-wuwf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}